As a nation state, Italy has emerged only in 1871. Until then the country was politically divided into a large number of independant cities, provinces and islands. The currently available evidences point out to a dominant Etruscan, Greek and Roman cultural influence on today's Italians.

I have heard it said that Sicilian is closer to the Original Latin than is Italian, also what dialect is spoken most in Sicily today? (Italian or Sicilian) Also does Sardinia have a different dialect that mainland Italy and Sicily?

And was not Corsica once part of Italy? And I have to ask was not Napoleon Bonaparte of Italian ancestry not French?

Hello,
I'm a native of Sicily. I spoke sicilian (a dialect spoken only in Sicily, the official language is Italian) since I was 6.
Sicily has been invaded since the Roman emperor until 1860, so we had bizantini, Arabs,normanni, angioini, aragonesi and borboni.
It means we have some words of Latin, french, spanish, arabian, greek.
So it his a mix of all these languages.

Sardinia has another dialect, and the officila language is Italian, of course.
Corsica belongs to France, and Napoleon was born in Ajiaccio, Corsica, bye ricbru

Napoleon's parents were from families of Italian nobles. Carlo and Letizia Ramolino Buonaparte (later given the French spelling Bonaparte) lived in Corsica, an Italian island later bought by the French from the Italian city-state of Genoa.

Giovanni1950 wrote:I am curious does anyone know the answer to some of these questions?

I have heard it said that Sicilian is closer to the Original Latin than is Italian, also what dialect is spoken most in Sicily today? (Italian or Sicilian) Also does Sardinia have a different dialect that mainland Italy and Sicily?

And was not Corsica once part of Italy? And I have to ask was not Napoleon Bonaparte of Italian ancestry not French?

In Sardinia is not spoken a dialect but a neolatin language. "Sardo" cames from latin language not from iatlian.
ciao

Andrea.. the Sardo coming from greek and latin language. ..as italian.... but the italian language is perfectioned in the centuries, the Sardinia language, because isle, having an close culture and withholding archaic words it has had various evolution.. with most strong spanish's influences ... after the 1700 with Piedmont's domain.. in 1800 the Italian language asserts and the Sardinia language it becomes Sardinia "dialect" with importance of all dialects of Italy......

suanj wrote:Andrea.. the Sardo coming from greek and latin language. ..as italian.... but the italian language is perfectioned in the centuries, the Sardinia language, because isle, having an close culture and withholding archaic words it has had various evolution.. with most strong spanish's influences ... after the 1700 with Piedmont's domain.. in 1800 the Italian language asserts and the Sardinia language it becomes Sardinia "dialect" with importance of all dialects of Italy......

Hi Suanj, i tried to explain that "Sardo" it's a real lenguage not only a dialect. In Italy we've got hundreds of dialects but everyone comes from the same "old language". Sardo instead is a true language, and obviously derives from latin and greece. In Sardo language than we've got different dialects but they're based on sardinian language not on italian language
ciao

Hello,
My relatives, who came from Catania, Sicily, had the surname of Sardo. I can trace them back to 1452. Would their name be derived somehow from the language? Perhaps if they spoke it or came from that area??
Just curious as I know many names came from professions, ect.
Thank you.
B.

Researching SARDO of Catania, Sicily, also their relations to Guglielmini, Romano, and Spampinata.

The base name SARDI is listed inthe Italian surname dictionary with Sardo as a variant. The name is distributed thruout Italy and based upon The ethnic group SARDO inhabiting Sardinia. There are no dates associated with the surname but I would imagine it is a very early possibly Roman in origin, if not earlier.=Peter=

Giovanni1950 wrote:I have heard it said that Sicilian is closer to the Original Latin than is Italian

Not true. The italian dialect closer to original latin is tuscan dialect, from which is descended modern italian language.

also what dialect is spoken most in Sicily today? (Italian or Sicilian)

It depends, in Sicily today all people speak italian, but they also speak their own dialect too. Sicilian dialect is divided into 10 or more sub-dialects. Some linguists consider sicilian a language, even if is not used as an official language.

Also does Sardinia have a different dialect that mainland Italy and Sicily?

Sardinian dialect, divided in many sub-dialects, is officially considered a language.

And was not Corsica once part of Italy?

Corsica language is considered an ancient tuscan sub-dialect, and closer to Italian than french. Southern corsican dialects are stricty connected to northern sardinian dialects. All the typical surnames of Corsica are italian: Paoli, Bartoli, Peretti...

Corsica has been for many centuries part of "italian world": etruscan, roman, pisan republic and genoese republic.

And I have to ask was not Napoleon Bonaparte of Italian ancestry not French?

Bonaparte was of italian ancestry. From Liguria, Tuscany and maybe from Treviso, Veneto.

A language is defined as having a written literature and has a grammatical struicture even though it mahy be classified as a dialect in light of official language of the country. However to claim a dialect as a language requires the above and if a dialect becomes the official language of a country then it becomes a language.=Peter=